Robert Downey GOLDEN FLOWER INTERNAL ARTS D A OY I N Physical calisthenics in the Internal Arts 健康的内部锻炼 Sifu1 Robert G. Downey - Author Shīmǔ2 Lavericia Copeland – Editor TABLE OF CONTENTS Daoyin Table of Contents Copyright Dedication Preface What is Daoyin The Body parts The Daoyin Practice Standing Moving Daoyin Stepping Out Tai Chi Walking Healing The Ending About the Author About the Editor Our Model End Notes COPYRIGHT Text and Pictures Copyright © 2016 Robert G. Downey Modeling Lavericia Ny’Jae Sifu Bob All Rights Reserved Public domain Photos from Gray’s Anatomy (If you do not have a volume get one!) All content in this book is subject to copyright. You are not entitled to copy pages, logos, images, or photographs for commercial use without prior written permission. The information in this book is provided as a service to the general public. While the information in this book is about exercise, health and lifestyle issues, it is not intended as medical or health advice or as a substitute for medical care or consultation. Understand that your practice of any exercises or examples, dietary practices or food, drink or nutritional supplements carries with it the potential for certain risks, some of which may not be reasonably foreseeable and requires your consideration of the impact on your health. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition prior to practicing, changing your diet or consuming any nutritional supplements. This book may include inaccuracies or typographical errors. The information is not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or up ‐ to ‐ date but is put forth in a best effort manner. All pictures have been edited to provide a more detailed view. Chairs and other objects have been removed. Most of the pictures were taken from the chair seated position. We promise better quality pictures as we become better editors. DEDICATION To all my many teachers Grandmaster William C. C. Chen Grandmaster Liang Tse Tung Master Chan Bun-Piac[1] And the many more Remember as T.T. always said “you need teachers and you need books” and now maybe videos … coming soon? PREFACE Do not be confused by all the videos on You Tube. Many are showing Daoyin and Qigong as the same practice. It is important to understand the working parts that go into making a complete practice for Internal Growth. Daoyin and Qigong are not the same and have different functions although the movements may look identical. It is correct to use the same movement in both efforts but the intent will be different and sometimes once each process is understood they can be melded together to create one movement. There is a brother to Daoyin which is Ligong3 which is commonly practiced in external styles but must be included in internal training practices. This volume will focus on the techniques practiced for increasing the muscle functionality and joint health for internal growth - Daoyin. Its companion volume will focus on the external strength that can and should be developed in internal arts - Ligong. Although it is possible to blend all the parts of training together into one activity, it is essential to understand each of those practices in each of the exercises. We still express Ch’i through our muscles and the muscles have to be strong enough to hold that energy. So take this volume in its intent – exercises to build the body to be as healthful as possible and to support the internal growth of the player followed by the companion volume to increase the strength to allow the expression of that energy. One last note – movement vs exercise. These are used interchangeably but remember that an exercise is made up of many movements. WHAT IS DAOYIN Daoyin is a Chinese term for a variety of exercise that is focused on the joints, connective tissue and muscle relaxation before muscle enlargement. Dao is translated as the way and yin is translated as soft. Daoyin means the way of softness. This is not the typical method used in many exercise routines. Muscles are the moving force in an exercise. Daoyin focus is for all the muscle cells to relax in one muscle and all the muscle cells in the opposing muscle to contract to generate the best movement of the body. A muscle works only in one direction4 – it contracts to generate a pulling action. There are always at least two muscles one in opposition to the other. The first muscle contracts and the second muscle relaxes to make a body movement. It is a very complex process to make a movement slow and delicate while developing that control to its highest level. Do not forget that breathing is also used to allow one muscle to relax and the other to contract. The Working Parts The theory of Daoyin is to train the muscles to work to their optimum potential, retrain, and retain a muscle memory movement. The process requires concentrated and slow movement and continuous training. The Daoyin exercises perform their movement with a slow and focused force allowing all the muscle cells to work together in a coordinated manner. Each exercise also focuses on the connective tissues and the alignment of the joints to prevent injury while allowing the joint to function within its parameters. Start working the muscles and joints of the body from the head and work down to the feet and toes. Work the surface of the body, the mass muscles first and progress to the minor muscles that control micro movements. The autonomic nervous system complies as the user advances in the control of the body movements making each movement more of a subconscious memory in the brain. These movements of Daoyin are for the releasing of the muscle cells5. When the muscle cells release they elongate and are then able to work on the next contraction. The idea is to let the muscle release all of its cells and then to contract as many cells as needed into the working portion of the exercise. It is a gradual development to get more and more cells functioning so that when needed all the cells can contribute to a contraction creating a much greater effort. Not only does this add to the power of the muscle but also it provides for healthy cells that are free to work. When the muscle cell is working, the fluidity of the contraction is functional, the cell is rewarded with the movement of energy into it, and waste products removed. Breathing6 during any of the Daoyin exercises relies on long and relaxed breaths. Breathing allows the body to release and the muscles to relax and stretch. It also allows the blood to be fully oxygenated and the lungs to remove waste products. When performing exercises in the Daoyin tradition at no time should you exert the body so that breathing is labored and panting. The breath should be drawn in through the nostrils filling the lungs and expelled through the mouth and the nostrils. The abdominal region should expand and the diaphragm expand downward to allow the lungs to expand and exchange the body gases. A brief trip in anatomy The human body is a machine of working levers and gears. An understanding of its workings at a high level provides the guidance to train effectively and in the best interest of the body components. The bones make the moving parts of the body. They are maneuvered by the muscles which at attached between bones and turn them into levers. The Muscle attaches to the bone by a tendon and the joint – the connection of the bones one to one or one too many at held together by the ligaments and are cushioned in their attachment by the cartilage. Starting with the muscles, they are made up of two types of cells – fast and slow twitch. The fast twitch muscle cell is used for fast movement such as the 100-yard dash. The slow muscle cells are used for the heavy lift of the weight lifter. The science of these cells would need a book to cover all the information known about these cells. What is important to know is that there are two types and each needs to be trained and worked to achieve the greatest power from the muscle. It is also good to know that the two cell types can work together with proper training to increase the speed and force of a movement when trained properly. What does this mean? That training in weights and speed is good for you. You do not need to become a weight lifter or a track star but training should cover both practices. This does not negate the fact that most of the Daoyin and Qigong exercises do not use either weight or speed. It reinforces the need to consider the use of all the muscle cells of each muscle when working. Mental training can get all the cells to join in and work together when trained properly. Muscle Cells A muscle cells can be thought of as a tube inside an outer lining. Upon stimulation, the inner cylinder contracts and its mass expands outward enlarging the muscle cell. The mass that was in length now becomes mass going into width that makes the cell shorter. As the cells shrinks in length the muscle contracts and pulls with an inward force. Since it is attached from one bone to another and the distance is getting shorter the joint pulls inward and exerts the force of the muscle. A muscle cell can only provide power upon this contraction. When the cell relaxes, its opposition muscle is contracting, allowing the next action to take place. More relaxation is more cells relaxing and lengthening. Practicing the relaxation of the opposed muscle allows for the training of more muscle cells to contract upon the action cycle. Any tension is less power in the muscle upon the power cycle. Stretching Stretching is simple. Doing it right is not. There are four components of any stretch – the muscle, the tendons, the ligaments and the cartilage. Of these, only the muscle can stretch safely. The other components when stretched do not return to their normal length and position. True that there is some alignment and positioning with these other components but stretching on any of these tissues is non revocable and leads to weakness in the joints. Stretching is truly the action of elongating the muscle cells so that they can contract when needed. So stretching needs to be a relaxation and breathing exercise. Out breaths, allow the brain to send signals to the muscles and allow them to relax. In some instances, force is required to help release scar tissue and adhesions in muscles. Small weights at the end of an exercise cycle held with the muscle fully extended can help the muscle cells relax and elongate. Be sure that the weights are just enough to add to the stretch and not so heavy that the muscle is straining to hold the weight. That is counterproductive to allowing the muscle cells to relax and for adhesions to release. Separating the Vertebra The most important information you can learn from this book is in this section. Your back is the most important part of your body and can be injured